A Summer Road Trip

Jottings from the pages of a road trip journal ...

1977 August 15 (Mon)

Chorlton (CNB 1977)

After some hectic shopping and getting the MOT for the car, we left Chorlton-cum-Hardy at 8 pm, heading for Shrewsbury. After passing Northwich and Whitchurch, at 9.50 pm we set up camp near Wem, 4 miles off the A49. Must say it was not easy putting up the tent quickly by the car headlights. After some tea we got into our (sleeping) bags.
Notes: Chorlton-cum-Hardy (a suburb of the city of Manchester) - our home from 1977-mid 1980; Wem is a small market town in Shropshire

August 16 (Tue)

(MB 1977)

It was nice and dry and we left Wem at 9 am, reaching Shrewsbury half an hour later. This city looks a bit like Chester with black and white buildings. Leaving Shrewsbury we went on to Church Stretton. Here we spent four hours walking up The Long Mynd, coming down via a stream valley, and the Old Radnor Forest. The weather all along has been nice and cool. I must confess that my new walking shoes hurt a bit although M felt 'nothing'. After passing Ludlow, Leominster (cities again reminding one of Chester), and Kington we crossed the border into Wales (at 5.30 pm), and spent the night in Walton. By this time it was raining and even by the next morning it was still doing so. 

Notes: Shrewsbury, birthplace of Charles Darwin, is a beautiful Shropshire medieval market town lying on the River Severn; Church Stretton - another historic market town in Shropshire; The Long Mynd - part of the Shropshire Hills area of great natural beauty; Old Radnor Forest - a rock dome.

August 17 (Wed)

(CNB 1977)

The rain just fell and fell and by 2 pm we got fed up of being caved in the tent and got out for Kington, about 4 miles away. Here we walked up to Hergest Ridge along the Offa's Dyke path. There was rain, wind and mist but it was a wonderful experience walking amidst the bracken and watch the mist rising up. We only met three other people on the lonely ridge. At 4.30 pm we left and after packing headed for Rhayader to spend the night near Devil's Bridge. All along, the Mid Welsh countryside were beautiful - lowlands of grazing sheep and farms and uplands of heather. The camping ground which was owned by a farm was quite full, especially of families with
caravans. The wind was particularly strong.

(MB 1977)

Notes:
Kington is a market town in Herefordshire; Hergest Ridge - a large elongated hill which traverses the border between England and Wales; Offa's Dyke is an earth bank built around 1200 years ago and runs along/near the borders of England and Wales; Devil's Bridge or Pontafyrnach in Welsh is 'the bridge over the Mynach'.



August 18 (Thu)

(CNB 1977)

After breakfast we walked to Devil's Bridge, picking raspberries along the way. At DB we visited the tourist attraction there - the waterfalls, but it was far too 'touristic' for us. At 2 pm we left for Aberystwyth some 13 miles away. Aberystwyth proved a nice little seaside town with narrow streets and a very long promenade. It was quite a busy town with no doubt tourists welling up the 12,000 population. The sun was out but still it was a bit chilly.We left Aber for Fishguard, passing Aberaeron and Cardigan. The coast road enabled us to see Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea.

On reaching Fishguard at 6.30 pm (after some very winding narrow streets!) we stopped by the harbour and saw what I thought was a sinking ship. Then we retraced the road to set up tent at Fishguard Bay. The wind was ever so strong and was keen to blow the tent away! But luckily there was no rain ...

Notes: Cardigan Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea; Fishguard is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire

August 19 (Fri)
I thought too soon, because just before morning there was rain which stopped only at about 9 am. Then we went on a two hour coast path walk. It was really splendid to see the little bays and steep cliffs. All the way there there were blackberries and heather galore! At one spot the yellow gorse and purple heather growing in between the rocks was a lovely sight to see. At the end of the walk we were quite near Fishguard town and from this point could see clearly what turned out to be a sunken Liberian cargo ship (I found out it was grounded in December but because of insurance problems, was still lying there to be recovered).

We left Fishguard at 2.30 pm and intending to spend the night in Brecon, we traveled through Haverfordwest, Carmathen, Llandeilo and Llandovery. But there was no camping ground in sight at Brecon (a market town) or Abergavenny or nearby Pontypool. In fact it was getting dark and the areas around were not too inviting (Brynmawr and others looked like industrial ghost towns!) so we sped for Cardiff which by night almost reminded me of Paris. We stayed at the Balkan Hotel (Bed & Breakfast), draining 8 pounds sterling from our pockets. But the shower (and breakfast the next morning) did us some good because M was very tired.

To be continued ...